Aiden: The Decision Maker For The Dead
by UnanimousMusician
Summary: Follow the story of Aiden, a helping hand to the wrong side of the conflict in RWBY season 2, mainly about him and the goings on, it will however have the characters from my first story, which follows season one. I do NOT own any part of RWBY, all rights to their owners, OC characters involved, M for Violence and suggestive themes. New chapter Guyz. Review, pls.
1. Chapter 1

(Gonna start on the same day RWBY Season 2 starts, just so that there's no confusion, and, while this story will be written so it can stand on it's own, I do suggest reading my first story, which sort of follows season 1, it explains the relations between most of the characters and I do want some reviews on this story and that one, please do so. For those of you that did read my first story, sorry, but you're gonna get a bunch of unnecessary explainations, which might actually help, considering I left a bunch of stuff out and can now elaborate on it.

Name: James Known As: Epsilon

I lifted a necklace from under my mattress, it glowed blue, and both Tyler and Nio jerked to attention, Hunter laying in his bed, which I'd mounted to the roof a while ago, and not paying attention, the tear drop shaped charm pulsed, blow light flowing out of it.  
"That's Julia's pendant," Tyler, My team mate, breathed, and I shrugged. Julia had been unresponsive ever since we had come back from doing an assignment for Prof. Port, her semblance not ready to be used to such a degree, she was now comatose, Tyler, who was her twin, knew she was alive, knew she was in there somewhere, and would visit her everyday, playing a song or two, hoping she could hear him. Nio seemed the most affected, her being his only confident, and her (kind of) boyfriend.

"Why would that be under there? Nio asked,

"I found it outside, in front of the school on the fountain, put it there, and kinda forgot about it, why?"

"You think that's why she could only activate her semblance to bring us here?" Nio asked, and my eyes widened,

"Milly was brought to my bed right? what if Julia was hiding her semblance, but it went off anyway, and sent Milly to my bed?" I wondered, and Nio shrugged, the neon blue veins on his hoodie brightening as he thought about it,

"It kinda makes sense, but what links her to that necklace?" Nio asked, and Tyler rolled his eyes.

"You of course." He mumbled, grabbing his leather knapsack and throwing it over his shoulder, "I'm gonna go see Julia, lemme borrow that." He said, pointing to the pendant, I tossed it to him, and he caught it on the way out of the room. I looked at Nio,

"My dad wanted to see me, you wanna tag along?" I asked, My dad had been abusive when I was little, taking advantage of my natural semblance(polarity), him being a blacksmith, meant that I could locate ores and minerals for him, eventually he saw the error of his ways, but too late, for my brother and I had already run away, Nano, my younger brother, had died while dealing with a dust charged, explosive grimm, which had detonated an entire factory to kill us, I had survived, but my team, ENDS, hadn't, Ozpin allowed me to be recast into the teams, Beacon being the only home I'd ever had, but my father had shown remorse, and had given me the indestructible(and crazily affected) sword I carried today.

"Sure." He grumbled, slipping on the glove that summoned his armor. We stepped out of the room after telling Hunter, our team leader, where we were going, we raised a thumbs up, going back to this web series he got hooked on about space heroes fighting AI fragements and aliens and stuff, I would've thought it cool, but one of the AI fragments had my name, so it weirded me out. Walking to the airships, we were intercepted by Aries, part of another team, and a good friend, his good looks and chiseled muscles were too good to be true, literally, him being a strange android which used an aura like energy as fuel, the Gatling gun on his back could change into a heavy mace, and with it he could deal blows that could smash people through walls,

"Yo!" He said, falling into step next to us,

"Hey, we're heading down to Vale so I can see my dad, you in?" I asked,

"Sure, I have to go in for an update, and I get to visit my sister, so I was heading down anyway, Nio, is Julia any better?" He questioned, getting serious as he asked, Nio shook his head,

"Still unresponsive but Tyler has an idea, so we'll see how it goes. How's Penny?"

"Great! they let her out a lot more often now, so that's nice, let's go," He said, walking toward the airships,

We got down to the city and walked together for a bit, joking and laughing, our angers melting away, only Aries and I, however, Nio contemplative as always, Aries eventually had to leave us, proceeding to a subway like structure, and Nio and I walked in silence, heading in the general direction of my father's workshop,

"You don't have to be so solemn you know," I said to Nio, and he shrugged, "She'll be fine, and how mad will she be when she wakes up and realizes you've been sulking all day? huh? she liked you because you opened up, and that's intense, so why'd you clam right up as soon as she got hurt?"

He remained silent, so I let it drop, walking by a dust shop, as we did so, I noticed old man what's-his-face on a ladder, we passed him and kept going, careful not to make him fall, we kept walking, seeing a strange girl walk by, green hair, red eyes, strange, but probably a student from one of the other kingdoms, I noticed the holsters on her lower back, carrying things that could either be really large knives, or something like flintlock pistols. We turned a corner, noting another strange person, light hair color, gray, but not old person gray, almost blue, his ankles were encompassed by strange machines, some form of altered shotgun gauntlets, I shrugged it off and kept moving, we got to my father's shop on the edge of Vale without incident, the wood and stone building standing out against the new ones, it was sturdier than them, but strange looking, and we walked inside, Nio stopping at the door way as I proceeded, my dad noticed me, seeing my eyes first, and his eyes filled with tears, before Nano and I had run away, he had put out my eyes with a cattle brand to 'focus' my semblance, I'd learned to see using only my semblance, but when necessary, I'd called upon my aura to heal them, I'd forgotten to tell him, and he stared at me,

"Your eyes son, what miracle is this? is Nano around?" He questioned, and I shook my head, Nano had died, but could now be summoned by me when I needed him, and could sometimes appear on his own, when my eyes had still been burned out, Nano would restore my eye sight, which would fade after he dissipated, a result of me being unable to use my semblance while he was summoned, since I'd healed my own eyes, he no longer did that, so I shook my head,

"No, I'd been near death and needed to see, so I healed them on my own," I explained, and he nodded, his expression now grave,

"I've been working on something Epsilon, in the hopes tht you wouldn't be forced near death before it was complete, but alas, I was too late, oh well, it's finished, so you might as well have it," He said, walking into a back room, coming back with a helmet, solid steel by the looks of it, gold etched into it on the outside, "I made a full set, and I want you to have it," He said, holding the helmet out to me, I took it, but shook my head,

"Dad, I can't accept this as a gift, it must've cost you a fortune, and time better spent taking care of yourself," I said, and he glared at me,

"I won't hear of it," He growled, as stubborn as I, "You are my only son now, and you will be protected,"

"Then at least let me pay for it," I said, and he looked at me, his eyes anger filled,

"I'm not the man I was, money is no longer a necessity to me,"

"I WILL, pay you old man, whether you like it or not," I said, and he hmphed, looking at the helm.

"Fine, I'll only take half what it's worth,"

"Twice it's worth," I growled,

"3/4ths"

"Full Price," I countered as another customer entered the store,

"Uhhh, I think you're haggling wrong," He said, and we both looked at him,

"No, this is right," We both said simultaneously, I looked back at my dad,

"So, Price and a half? we agreed on?" I suggested

"Sneaky one, you," He said, "Full Price and I won't take more than that." He said, walking into the backroom to get his Cash register, bringing the armor along with him, all of it was the same chrome and gold as the helm, he glared at me as I paid the hefty sum it costed, grumbling about stubborn children. The other customer bought a pan and an axe and was on his way, wondering why I'd been auging the price up with my father arguing it down. I put on the new armor, there being almost no other way to carry it, the chestplate and pauldrons alone weighing in at around sixty pounds(HAHAHAHA NOT METRIC). Nio and I walked back to beacon, I, attracting many strange looks from passerby people, a full suit of armor and sword on your back tends to do that. Despite it's weight, it wasn't bulky, and ventilated well, I not breaking a sweat as we walked through Vale.

Name: Aiden Last Name: Erie

"So what's next?" I asked, looking at Cinder. We were up on a cat walk in a warhouse, most of the dust was being stored here,

"Why that," Cinder said, not looking at me, "Is something you don't quite need to know, what matters to you, is that I will ask you to do something, and you, will not take it as a suggestion, you do it, without question, without fear, and we might just decide to keep you around." She said, and turned as someone below said,

"If it was up to me, I would take you and your street rat friend and..."

"Do what?" Cinder interrupted, activating the lift as I grinned and activated my semblance, ready to watch the show. Melting into the shadows and watching the encounter, shuddering when Cinder's eyes glowed, walking away and waiting outside the warehouse for them as Torchwick tried to light his cigar. Finding that his lighter had been stolen by the green haired girl, Emerald, I believed, but it didn't matter to me, by how Cinder spoke, she had two very different plans for us, considering the way she'd told them to stay out of trouble, while ordering me to empty warehouses and crush loose ends. 


	2. Chapter 2: The Breakup and The Spy

Name: James Known As: Epsilon

Nio and I got back up to Beacon without incident, but I sensed something strange as we stepped off the airship, looking around, I noticed gargantuan Airships, Military class, with the Atlas insignia on them, General Ironwood stepped off one, walking through Beacon's main hall to get up to Ozpin's tower office, Senryo was walking from the school, and saluted to the General, Senryo was one of the few super soldier experiments who had survived, Adamantine Bones made him hard to kill, while his strength of aura mae cut's and brusies fade quickly, any actual damage could be lethal however, the general, surprised, talked animatedly to Senryo, sending him on his way afterward,

"What was that about?" I wondered aloud, and Nio grimaced,

"Ironwood must have known about the super soldier programs, and the cloning programs too," he growled, him being the first, and only, synthesized human, he had been seized by an organization intent on replacing every organ in his body with a fungus like artificial tissue, he escaped, though he didn't go into specifics when he told us, and eventually landed himself a place in Beacon, Senryo and him had had a bit of a falling out, and now their relations were tense, if not completely volatile. We walked into Beacon, talking about this and that, Nio's anger drawing him out of his shell a little, we met Milly on the way, and she walked along with us, hand in hand with me, ever since the assignment, her personality had been fluctuating, but was now jsut about back to normal as her mind got her own thoughts straight, Nio went off to check on Julia, and Milly dragged me to the library,

"Bluurgh." I complained, "It's the last day before classes start up again, do we have to start studying?"

"No, but most of the new students hang out near here,"

"And you good naturedy want to greet them and welcome them to Beacon? Or do you want to get an eye on the competition for the tournament?" I grinned, and she slapped me on the shoulder playfully,

"I'll have you know I won't be participating in the tournament," She said, "Too much violence," She added, wrinkling her nose,

"Well I'm sorry to inform you that being a Huntress is a job with quite a lot of violence in it," I retorted, my smile doing nothing but growing wider,

"Silly, I mean that the Vital Festival is a time to celebrate unity and peace-"

"I feel like someone just said that at the exact same moment as you," I interrupted, and she glared at me but continued,

"Having a tournament during it never made much sense to me, so I won't participate in it, considering we would be hurting other people, not just grimm," She said, and I nodded, but my previous statement still stood, Hunters and Huntresses didn't always only fight grimm, I was worried about what might happen if she was forced to face members of the White Fang, I shrugged it off as we walked into the library, some first years yelling at each other over a board game, but most people were studying or reading. A chill ran down my spine, I looked behind me, but saw nothing, noticing that the arches of the library ceiling were shaded, I activated my semblance to take a 'look' but Milly slapped my hand as I was enveloped by a black outline.

"Epsilon, don't you dare break the library, that means no activating your semblance," She told me, I frowned but deactivated my semblance, making a metanl note to check corners when I returned,

Name: Aiden Last Name: Erie

I held still, completely frozen, I was sure that the kid with emerald green eyes had seen me, but he'd disregarded me when the faunas girl at his side drew his attention, my heart stopped thumping as they sat across the room and started talking, getting up every now and the nto talk to a new comer to Beacon. I thought back to Cinder's orders, "Stay out of trouble, stay close to us, don't be noticed," I could find a loophole easily, being noticed meant getting caught, but I had to know how that guy had known where I was, my semblance allowed me to melt into shadows, not completely invisible, but hard to see from about two feet away, I stuck to the wall, dropping to the floor and letting my semblance fade, my hood had an arch coming down in front of my eyes, and I took it off, letting it rest on my back, Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald were just outside, so I wasn't violating my parameters, my black pants went with my hoodie, black red and white, fabled colors of the assassin, my blakc cargo pants weighed heavily, the faimliar weight of Silvia and Aegis giving me courage, the guy who'd seen me was wearing full and expensive armor, meaning I would have greater speed, and definitely able to get away if he gave chase, I walked over, smiling, and the faunas girl was at my side, leading me to her table to talk,

"What kingdom are you from?" She asked, elated, and I shrugged,

"I'm actually from here in Vale, trained on my own though, so I don't see myself being any good in that tournament," I said, the best way to tell a lie being to include lot's of truth and a bit of humility,

"Oh, I'm sure you'd do fine," The guy said as I took a seat across the table, good natured, not physically able to underestimate others, this guy is tough,

"I saw you looking around earlier, what spooked you?" I asked, and he shrugged, just a thought, I can be a bit paranoid," He responded nonchalantly, pressing further into that question would alarm him to my intentions,

"Okay, was that a black aura? or do you have the Polarity Semblance?" I inferred, and he grinned,

"The polarity semblance, my pride and joy being that I am greatest with it," He said, and I had to focus in order to maintain my poker face, too trusting, you just revealed your weaknesses to someone you just met,

"Well, I'm actually thinking about trying the tournament, if you think so much of me, how bad could I be?" I asked, and he shrugged, leaning forward suddenly,

"I don't know, how bad can you be?" He asked seriously, and alarms went off, he knew, he had been playing me the whole time, I smiled,

"I dunno, I could be some run of the mill cracker jack who thinks he could be a big shot, you?" I questioned, leaning back and interpreting the question and his body language in the best way possible,

"I have real skill, and would crush anyone trying to threaten Beacon, or spy on others." He growled, standing and walking away,

'That did not go well,' I thought as I stood and melded into the shadows, the guy's girlfriend trying to get him to come back and meet more of the new people. I walked back to a corner as a girl howled in defeat, beaten at her own game, literally, 'Poetic,' I thought, leaving the library and going back to following Cinder and the rest. They walked the halls, looking for something, and giving my semblance and I quite the workout as I struggled to follow them. They walked all day, doing a whole lot of nothing, but making it impossible to follow them without being seen, walking in brightly lit hallways and even broad daylight, I was forced to go incognito mode, hood up, semblance off, coat tails floating along behind me. They thankfully walked into one of the less lit buidlings, and I followed along, as invisible as I could get, them wlaking int othe building actually making it harder, it being night time by this point, a girl rushed out of a random room, and slammed into Emerald, falling backward, they had a short conversation, and ignored the girl's advice, walking in the same direction anyway, Cinder lifted her hand toward the girl as she walked, marking her as one of my targets, I would soon be required to make a decision, kill her, or risk Cinder's fury.

Name: James Known As: Epsilon

I wlaked to the infirmary, itching to tell someone other than Milly about the spy, who wouldn't believe me, I walked in to see Nio and Tyler at Julia's bedside, Nio was smiling, and Tyler was crying tears of joy as Julia sat up and looked around,

"Wha-?" She managed before Tyler threw his arms around his twin and nearly squeezed the life out of her,

"I was SO worried!" He said, still bawling, Julia patted his back awkwardly, and I walked over, pulling him away from her by his collar, slapping some sense into him at the same time,

"Thanks, I needed that," He said as he straightened his "Ninjas Play Free" shirt and composed himself. He looked back at Julia smiled, and left, pointing to his knapsack as he went, Julia nodded as some onspoken conversation went on, and he raised a thumbs up as he left the room. I raised my eyebrow,

"He wants to play me a song later,one he hasn't played for anyone else before, so he'll come back later," Julia said, and I shrugged, following Tyler out of the room.

(Okay, So I said I would cut down on POVing, but things have to be said, and they're 'personal' so just about no one else can be present, so meh.)

Name: Julia Last Name: Symphonia

He stood, stoicly, to my right, not saying a word, not moving, it was silent for quite a while before I realized tears were falling rom his face. His head down, eyes not in my line of sight as he silently weeped, tears, and body language, that expressed an innate form of rage, self hatred, and now for more reasons than originally there. Nothing was said for quite a while, but eventually he moved, walking to my side, keeping his head down, blue veined, white hood, up.

"Remember when I kept asking to make sure your eyes hadn't been blue?" I asked, and he nodded, still not showing the brown eyes that seemed to care for everything they saw, yet at the same time fear for it, for he knew what the worst was that could happen to it.

"This first time we met, here, when I first started getting, transformed,(Note* You will have to read the previous story for this, cuz other than some guy having the same affliction, I most likely won't referrence it) I could swear your eyes were glowing, a beautiful blue, the color of your aura, they allowed me to see your soul, not the same thing everyone sees, your eye color, they showed me who you are, they showed me that you were afraid, and I decided I wanted to take at least a little bit of fear out of those eyes, I ended up making you have more fear, can you forgive me?"

"You aren't the reason why I'm, messed up, but it is true that the opposite is correct in your instance, I, am the reason you got hurt, and hurt myself because of it, this, between us, has to end, now, I'll let you get hurt, I won't always be able to save you, and some magic surprise won't keep all of us safe, if I get, killed, I don't want to hurt you, I would want you to be able to move on, so I'm afraid this ends here, I won't hate you, I jsut won't return every bit of love you give me, I hope you can understand." He said, not looking up, my eyes hardened,

"I understand perfectly, you are and almost always will be, afraid of who you are, what you've done," I said, my tone as sharp as a knife."I will never give up on you, because, it's too late, you've already let me past the shield, I just have to make you see that you are making a mistake," I ended as he walked away, wondering how I'd get him to open up again. I was pulled from my thoughts by a slow clapping,

"Amazing! You cut through that kid like butter, I'm thinking you might be able to help me," A voice said,

"WH-who's there?!" I called, the infirmary empty except for me.

Someone melted from the shadows, a hood with an arch flashing from black to red to white as he stepped forward,

"I'm the guy, you're going to reporting to for now on," He said, grinning,

"On who?" I asked, voice trembling slightly

"Well on your friends of course,"

"I won't betray them."

"Of course you will, how pathetic would you seem to him if self harm scars started appearing on you? How much would your precious brother Tyler hate him for what he just did if you seemed to dip into depression?"

"I would never think of doing that,"

"You forget, you wouldn't be doing it in front of them, you would be alone when you do it, in a room with quite a few shadows, you can help me, or I can tear your little group apart from within." He said, smiling evilly. Tears gathered in my eyes,

"What do you need to know?" 


	3. Chapter 3

(Okay, yes, I do remain behind the main story line a bit, but that's only because, sometimes while doing this, it's prudent to stay far away from the main characters so as to make sure you don't mess up the story line while giving the reader a feeling of being there, that's what I strive for, If I'm not quite hitting the mark, please go ahead and tell me, and I'll see what I can do. Also, I find myself breaking my own rule pretty often, meaning I pretty constantly have to write through another person's POV, I'm trying to narrow it down a bit, so hopefully I can get there, this chapter requires a bit of backstory, so if you've read my first story, skip until the POV identification, if not, just know, that while Penny is the FIRST humanoid android capable of generating an aura, she is not the only one, the other, is Aries, and has been built with the express ability to "learn" and grow stronger, Penny is better and faster than him in almost every way, but his difference may allow him to surpass her, this will be revealed as the story continues on and more is revealed about penny and(inadvertently) her brother. So then, straight to it, eh?)

Name: Alejandra Last Name: Moreno

I woke with a start, breathing heavily, sitting up right suddenly. Spots flashed before my eyes, a consequence of getting off beat. I closed my eyes not layng back, breathing steadily, resonating the sound of my breath with the beat of my heart. It took a moment, and I laid back afterward, trying to slip back into sleep, hopefully into a different dream. I couldn't, and stood, blinking and looking around, my eyes flashed purple, right on tempo, and I scanned the room quickly. Everyone else asleep, I, the only one disturbed. An alarm clock lit the room, only noticed once my eyes adgusted, pouring green light on the floor, adding contours and shadows to the sleeping forms. I readied my equipment and padded over to the door, my feet silent. I stepped out of the room, walking down the hall, not knowing where I was going. I eventually found myself in front of the school, the fountain quietly pittling the water away. I sat, but was not startled when a voice resounded from the main door.

"Oh, hey Alejandra." Hunter said, surprised,

"Hello," I responded, clsoing my eyes, focusing my other senses, his boots thudded against the ground as he drew close, far too heavy, as was the sound of his breathing, my sense of smell picked up nothing, indicating he was well washed, not like some of the other barbarians around the school, of whom I would be able to smell a mile away, I couldn't quite feel him approach, but as he neared me, another sense, not taste, nor sight, smell, or sound, indicated his proximity. He sat next to me, and I opened my eyes to look at him. Brown eyes stared back, a pretty common color, but I was jealous, always giving off the wrong impression, seeming too intense, too serious. I smiled,

"What's a dashing lady killer like yourself doing up this late at night?" I asked impishly, and he grinned,

"I can tell when there's a lonely girl out and around on the grounds, I have to come and talk, I guess you could say it's like a sixth sense." He responded in kind,

"So, what's the big idea? Following someone around like this, it'll make others think you're, up to something." I quoted, and he shrugged, not getting the reference(Snape, duh).

"I just felt like you needed some company,"

"Oh that's sweet, a girl and her thoughts, alone, and yet not, how adorable," I said sarcastically,

"Well I know you're not here just for your thoughts." He said, standing,

"And what makes you think that?"

"The fact that you've got your pads on, and those shapes in your sleeves look kinda suspicious." He said as I noticed the same for him, he was wearing his armor, and his shield was collapsed on his left arm, I stood as well.

"I don't really have, plans, so to speak, you have anything in mind?" I asked him, and he shrugged, the moon lighting his features as he wandered in the direction of the cliff, and I followed. He stood at the edge of the cliff, obviously waiting for me, but I held back, and he looked at me after a moment, an eyebrow raised,

"It's silly, but I don't like standing on the edges of cliffs," I explained, and he broke into a grin,

"Oh, so Mrs.'piercing stare' is afraid of heights, is it?"

"Not afraid, I just, have an aversion to them," I called back, rubbing my arm sheepishly. He offered a hand, and I shook my head,

"C'mon scaredy pants, lets head down the cliff, oughtta be something to take your mind off of whatever it is that's keeping you up." He beckoned, pointing at the path etched into the side of the cliff, which was still about ten feet too close to the edge for me. He looked at me expectantly, his hand still out in invitation. I took a step, following my heart(for tempo of course), taking another and a third, continuing until I found my hand in his. He beamed at me, and I smiled, trembling slightly with being so close to the cliff. He led me down the path, keeping me next to the cliff face as the path wound around and back and forth a couple times. We got to the bottom, and I looked up, wondering why I'd never be able to look down. We walked for a while, the forest never seeming to end, after a few moments however, we came upon a crater in the ground, and Hunter chuckled.

"What is this?" I questioned, crouching near the whole.

"That's the crater Epsilon must've made on my first day, I saw him walk up in a full suit of muddy iron armor, crude too, it's amazing to think about how far we've come." He said, memories flashing before his eyes as he studied the ground. I heard a shriek, and looked up, Hunter grinned and beckoned at me to follow him, the shriek scared me, it sounded distinctly bird like, and birds flew in the sky. I shrugged off the thoughts, and jogged after him, he grinned, looking up at the Nevermore as it flew overhead, rubbing his hands together with relish as a pack of Beowulves emerged across the clearing.

"I'll get the bird, you get the big baddie wulvies over there." He said, flexing his wrists to summon his sword and shield from his sleeves. Executing a glyph on the floor below him, he was launched straight up, flipping mid-air before landing on the Nevermore, keeping it's attention off me, I cracked my knuckles happily, let him look down from above, I was where I needed to be.

(Okay guys, fighting time, but this will be interesting, Alejandra, as you've noticed, is quite a lot a part of me, a part of who Unanimous Musician is, the tempo keeper, the beat watcher, so her fighting, will reflect that, please excuse me if I stumble over words or get some stuff mixed up, I am not quite the best at keeping tempo(Yet.))

The first grim approached, growling, but attentive, my heart rate elevated, and with it, my presence of mind, I ascended, beyond thought, beyond control, I moved without hesitation, confidence granted through some holy blessing, or the power of keeping steady, keeping balanced, it got close, wondering why I wasn't moving, wasn't afraid. I watched in vertigo as my eyes snapped open, their blazing ice coloring inspiring fear in the bravest of the grimm, which stepped back, stumbling, and I was on it in an instant, flipping forward, over it, snapping it's neck as I did so. Half beat, still serene, still in place, and yet relaxed, but firm, each movement punctuated by the death of a beowulf. My elbow snapped forward, nearly removing the head from the shoulders of a beowulf, I followed through the blow, further than others would have, extending my arm to brace my hand on the ground, cartwheeling forward, stillness yet preserved as I lunged forward upside down, the bottoms of my sandals connecting with the chest of one of the grimm, knocking it to the ground, I, landing on top of it as I finished my cartwheel, as I came up straight I cracked my arm like a whip, sending one of the daggers in my sleeves from it's sheath into the neck of the beowulf. Dead instantly, it's head fell back, it's snarl fading as it left this world. I stepped off of it as my beat increased, quarter beat, the average steadiness, one of the markers of existence, I stooped, retrieving the dagger and flipping it around in my hand, bringing it up into the neck of a beowulf, yanking it out afterward to slam it's hilt into the eye of one nearby, flipping sideways, stabbing a third in the throat, kneeing one in the stomach hard enough to initiate the dust in my knee pad, lightning crackled as it ionized with my aura as a catalyst, and the grimm was thrown back, smoking. I didn't miss a beat(literally), flipping backward and turning to come face to face with a grimm, then using my semblance to transport me in front of another one as I brought my elbow up, slamming it's sternum with lethal force, getting yanked back as I held my dagger to the general space of where the beowulf's neck would be, slitting it's throat as it came into view. Eighth tempo, quicker, nastier, but not quite challenging, I killed them in droves, stabbing one only to teleport to another, killing that one before snapping back to the first to land a sandal directly onto where the hilt of the blade was, sending it through that one, into another behind it. I leapt over the first, flipping twice and landing on beat, sweeping the feet of the already dead beowulf out from under it, retrieving my dagger with a free hand to hurl it at an enemy that had plucked up the courage to try and throw off my beat. Sixteenth time, I was on a rampage, moving faster than most could see, limited only by the snapback time of my semblance, adding a flip or a cartwheel to every movement in order to show movements during the beats. I was almost out of enemies, but pushed further, thirty secondth time, a half of a fourth of a half of a fourth of a half of one.(say that ten times fast) Lights and sounds blurred as I pushed myself to my limit, becoming unseen to even my own eyes as I quickly annihilated the remaining grimm, crushing any and all resistance as I moved faster than ever before, then, I ran out of enemies, I made a mistake, looking around to check, making me miss a beat, my foot landed a sixty fourth of a thirty secondth late, and I blacked out, finding myself falling backward as my vertigo thought process simply shut off, disappearing in a huff, leaving me tired, sore, and used, with nothing, past or future to show of it. I floated in darkness, angry at myself, it had probably only been a few minutes, but they felt like hours, and I eventually seemed to fade into nothingness, but some part of me waited the time, some part of me suffered through eternity, and that part of me hated all the rest, for they got to relax, they got to rest, it didn't, it always worked, always on beat, always doing it's best, my heart, it shriveled in self loathing, and forever, that was all I knew.

I woke later, a shriek sounding off above me, metallic thuds brought me to full consciousness, and I looked around in worry. Hunter stood above me, his shield up, eyes watching, two Nevermores circled overhead, launching feathers down at us. We were in a teepee made of them, Hunter having deflected them with his shield. Not completely, as that would have exhausted him quickly, and they slammed into the ground with the force to pin themselves there. The Nevemores circled out of view, and Hunter looked down to see that I'd awoken. I shook my head, standing,

"I wasn't sure what happened, you finished off the final beowulf and just got knocked out, you ok?" He said, eyes wide with worry, and I waved him of, checking my equipment,

"It's nothing, I miscalculated." I mentioned as I looked up, he gave me a quizzical look and shrugged, then pointed at the sky.

"The Nevermores had me pinned, do you think you could avoid the feathers while I take them out?" He asked, and I shook my head,

"They come too quickly, they'll tear me and you apart if you try to get up to them."

"I'll be fine, I'm worried about you." He said, still looking at me as if I was a child. My features hardened,

"You don't need to worry about me, I can take care of myself." I said coldly, and he sighed for a second, drawn by the sound of a Nevermore approaching. He yanked one of the feathers out of the ground, making an exit for us. He gestured at the opening, and I huffed, suddenly angry, something to do with way he treated me, as if I needed to be protected. He stood next to me as the Nevermore shrieked it's triumph, turning towards me, he offered his hand.

"Do you trust me?" He questioned seriously, looking striaght into my eyes. I hesitated, but placed my hand in his,

"Yes."

He nodded, turning, slinging me straight up, adding a small curve, so that I flipped slowly, landing on the back of one of the Nevermores. I screamed, grabbing handfuls of my hair, eyes as wide as they could go as I looked at the ground far below me. A figure sprung from the ground, grabbing onto the under feathers of the Nevermore and climbing up. Hunter's head popped up from the feathers, grinning like a maniac, I screamed again, and the smile fell off his face. He climbed closer, and put his arm around me, trying to comfort me a little. It took a moment, but I was able to reassemble my very personality, and clutched the feathers for my life.

"OK! I'LL GO AND KILL THE OTHER NEVERMORE! YOU STAY HERE! WAIT FOR ME!" Hunter yelled over the roar of the wind, and I nodded. He was thinking that I might've done anything other than hold the Nevermore's feathers in a death grip. He eased off and away from me, and loneliness stabbed at my heart quite suddenly, I'd appreciated his presence, enjoyed it, and now it was gone, I shrugged off such thoughts, watching him struggle to time his jump correctly, carefully watching the other Nevermore, waiting for the time to strike, it came quickly, and the Nevermore shuddered as he jumped off of it, impacted by the force of his leap. He summoned his sword mid-air, timelessly falling toward the second Nevermore as his caution paid off, he stabbed his sword into it, hilting the sword in the flesh of the Nevermore and using that as a handhold to anchor himself. The Nevermore screeched, clarion calling it's pain. He yanked his sword out of it, crawling to it's head, and stabbed into it's eye, then on the top off it's head, killing it. Falling, he managed to jump off of it and land rolling, going under the cover of the trees to catch a breather. I waited, still unable to move, but not quite so affected by the height.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Something whispered, over my shoulder, into my ear. I flailed wildly, hanging on with one arm and trying to smack whatever it was off me, it didn't work, and it continued whispering into my mind.

"I could make it so that you wouldn't be afraid of heights, I can free you of your time keeping curse, you need not carry it, for there are other ones, stronger ones, yet capable of bearing your burden." It tempted, and I shuddered, grabbing the feathers again to stabilize myself, I knew of what spoke to me, chaos, imbalance, impurity, that which I held the most distaste for. I shrugged off the evil presence as Hunter landed next to me.

"YOU ALRIGHT?!" He called, "LOOKS LIKE YOU'VE SEEN A GHOST!"

I didn't respond, but gestured with my chin at the Nevermore's head, he nodded, and climbed forward, killimg the Nevermore quickly. My limbs unlocked, my fear removed, for I had a fear of heights, not of falling, and I only had eyes for Hunter as he caught me, holding onto me as we created a crater as he landed. He placed me on the ground, sheepishly dusting off his pants.

"Sorry about that, I didn't know you'd react so crazily once I threw you."

"It was ok, I get a little, irrational, when up high." I responded, wondering just how irrational I'd gotten, whether that voice I'd heard was real or not, it didn't matter, I'd resisted it, and could do so in the future.

(And Now we get to the good stuff, see? Extra late? Extra long, I'll try to keep up from now on.)

Name: Aiden Last Name: Erie

I was awoken suddenly, shuddering at how I'd threatened that innocnet girl. I couldn't of course hurt her, but I'd obviously bluffed well enough, and I could use her to figure out about that other guy, the one who'd seen me. Fate itself seemed to have awoken me, as I received a message on my stroll not a momsnt later, from Cinder, of course,

"There is something I require of you."

"And it is?" I questioned,

"Roman requires some, artillery, unfortunately, Ironwood himself is being, greedy, relieve him of the source of his sin."

"Which would be?"

"The Elysian Paladins, naturally." She ended, and I practiaclly hear the laughter in her voice, see the grin on her face as she contemplated the, soon to be hers, new toys. I closed up my scroll, shrugging away from the pillar I'd been sleeping against, the moon shined brightly, but it had only recently risen, and I hurried off, sure that Cinder had given me only a few hours before the deadline of when Torchwick would need it. I jogged in the direction of the airships, catching one down to Vale, then reporting to Torchwick, who grinned,

"This is the backup she sent? Come on, you guys just get scrawnier and scrawnier, you know last time this monkey kid was fighting us with a shirt completely unbuttoned? Almost completely animal if you ask me." He laughed, grabbing his cane and gesturing toward the carrier, I removed my hood, and wolf ears flopped forward, white, mottled with grey, like my father's, but he was off bounty hunting somewhere, something about a shiny new set of Elysian Knights for some other plans, he never called, so never knew what I was up to, and I knew he harbored a natural hatred for Towrchwick, something about being lied to.

"Oh..." Torchwick said, stepping onto the carrier as I glared at him. We landed in Atlas soonish, and Torchwick looked at me to discuss the plan, but I'd already melted into the shadows, and had already "convinced" the two gaurds to let us in, they lay unconscious on the ground, but two shots sounded off as we drove through the check point. We quickly cleared the warehouse, opening up a pad for a carrier to land, we hooked up the Paladins and watched them get flown away, jumping into another carrier and following them.

"You seem pretty good at this kid, you ever wanna stop taking orders from her? Come talk to me, I could really use you." He said, offering his card, I took it, and folded it up, putting it in my pocket with Aegis,

"I would like to be used by no one," I said, stepping off the carrier and following him to a White Fang recruit meeting, which, of course, led to the complete destruction of one of our Paladins. One of not very many we had, and I saw myself retrieving more in the near future. Towrchwick barely got away, but with style, naturally, and I followed the girls that had torn apart our robot, tracing them all the way back to Beacon, all the way to the hall outside their dorm, noted their location, and faded out of the light, ready to report to Cinder when need arise.

(No action for Aiden, but I'm just about ready to conk out, so I'm gonna give you another large bit tomorrow, sorry for the wait! And I will continue on Thursday!(provided they do of course) So now, let's start the story of an awesome idea I got from the owner of one of my many OC characters huh? Put on your seat belts, this is gonna be a bumpy ride. And yes, I looked at my idea of only using two characters, looked at how many characters I've already used, and said "Fuck it.")

Name: N/A Known As: Nio Saphirrus

Morning time was simple, classes were drawling, and finally team training finished, normally I would have been happy to do these things, happy to learn, but not today, I had long ago been imprisoned, for no reason other than being born(technically), that tore at me, and I found myself leaving the team room and heading off into Vale, hood up, eyes watching. The transmit tower of Vale loomed above me, and I solemnly walked toward it, startled out of such solemnness by a hammer wielding black paladin, he put a hand on my shoulder to get my attention, and I flinched, Saphire Cutter in my hands and pointed at his face an instant,

"Pfft," he laughed, playfully pushing Saphire Cutters barrel out of his face, then looking up at the tower. "What's up? What's our super secret friend doing at transmit tower?"

"None of your business," I growled, unequipping Saphire Cutter and walking past him into the building. He caught up, walking backwards to look me in the eye with a quizzical look, then rubbing my hair as he smiled,

"Awwww, you've got a sweet heart! You know you can make untraceable calls from this tower, pinging your signal from each of the five of them, so you have to be doing that," He laughed, and I glared at him, he turned around and walked normally next to me, managing to keep silent until we got to the elevator, heading up to the top floor.

"Wait here," I ordered, pointing at the elevator, "I've got a private call to make." He saluted, and stood in the elevator at attention, a little off balance, his face smiling a little too much, I shrugged it off, heading over to one of the consoles in the room. Turning it's volume down all the way, only a fraction of it remained, and I made a call, to someone known to me only as gatekeeper. She appeared on the screen, her sunglasses obscuring her eyes, a hat completely covering her hair, she wore it always, even inside, as she was now.

"Nio! How good to see you," she said, a mask of black satin covering her face. I nodded, then shook my head,

"Nit really that great, I've got a confirmed subject 11.(last story, not gonna explain it) I want to investigate myself, can you get me a green light?"

"For Chimera? Easily,"

"How about some man power?"

"Not so easily, but I'll pull a couple strings,"

"Thanks, Nio Ou-"

"Wait, Nio, be careful, these subjects, are as strong as you, if not more so, they're tortured, brainwashed, you need to be cautious," she said, and I shrugged, turning away, but thankful that she cared,

"Will do, Blue Paladin, out." I said, ending the call. I walked back to the elevator, where I found Aries still standing at attention, I poked him, and he nodded, stepping back so I could get in.(Didn't someone in conspiracy with Ironwood make Penny? And by extension, her brother?)

"Chimera huh?" Aries said, and I looked at him, eyes wide. "You know, I came here to meet up with my sister, but decided to hang out with you, so I come up here, staying nearby, and you forget I have bionic hearing?"

"It's just, I have to, for what they did to me, for what they will do, I have to expose them."

"I'm afriad I can't let you do that." He said strangely, with a voice not his. Eyes glowing red, he drew Volund, leveling it's eighteen barrels at my chest. A light that looked like a power button glowed green on Volund's main body, the barrels started rotating, heating up, and I summoned my armor and Saphire Cutter, a light flashed, and I was covered in pearl white armor, blue veins ran up and down it, circling the pauldrons, my visor powered on, and it identified obvious threats, pointing out that a single shot from his Gatling gun would tear straight through my armor, my impact reduction, however, worked far better, and I turned to the wall, stopping the elevator before flipping Saphire Cutter into sword mode, stabbing it through the elevator, out of the building, Aries(AI whatever) noticed and flipped Volund to hammer mode, the Gatling gun taking too long, it did, however, restrict his movement, and his controlled state was clumsy, I easily maneuvered around him, finally cutting a hole in the building large enough to jump through. I looked back as I jumped, seeing Aries released, and rage in his eyes as he ripped the power insignia out of Volund, saluting me as I fell. I looked forward, toward the concrete of the ground, it cracked under me, the impact doing neither of us good, my armor only just saved me from turning to mush, and I shut it off as I sprinted away.

(Pretty cool huh? Wasn't gonna do a chapter cuz of the info episode, but I might do one only in order to deal with problems within my tightly knit group of eighteen characters, yes, eighteen, all of my teams(16), Aiden(1), and someone you guys should know if you read my previous story, first person to PM me with the name(or description) gets a guest appearance or a cookie, your choice. I do have a question for you all, a shadow, a shade, is the absence of light, so how, might it be cut, or killed? Even, with an immortal sword?) 


	4. Chapter 4: The Reveal, The Target

(Alrighty, so I'm gonna check out the new episode today and get this chapter finished, I should probably start it first though, so straight to it then eh? Short explanation needed, just skip ahead if you read the prequel to this. Mako was injured quite recently, and has been hospitalized for a couple weeks due to all the blood loss(IRL not in-story) until I decided what to do with him and how to do it, so I asked his creator, and, well, you'll see)

Name: James Known As: Epsilon

Milly poked me, and I looked down at her,

"The Mako thing, remember?" She asked, and I sighed, nodding, Mako was finally alive again, a real trooper, and today we would be allowed to visit him, but first, we would have to sit through Port's class and then through combat training. While the Professor continued to blather away, I distinctly noticed both Nio and Aries fidgeting, constantly, it came to a head when Aries growled and stood, drawing Volund and lightly tapping the desk in front of him, breaking it in half in the process.

"Listen Old Man, I have things to do, and you, wasting my time, is NOT, appreciated. There are people out there, hunting me down, I don't have time for this, so say something important, in the next five seconds, or I'm outta here!" Aries called. The room sat with a pregnant silence, and Port 'looked'(Pointed his face at him, with his huge bushy eyebrows, you couldn't actually tell where he was looking) at Aries, and nodded,

"You may go, best of luck to you, young hunter." Port said, "And to you as well, Mr. Saphirrus, you both have great tasks ahead of you, and I expect you to complete them and return to us without fail, and then never interrupt one of my stories again." He finished ominously, and both Nio and Aries lef ttthe room, off to do who knows what. I was about to flag Nio down, ask him what's going on, but got a message from Hunter,

"Let him go, he has to walk this road alone." I nodded, sure that Hunter could see me. The rest of the day assed drawlingly, but finally, both classes ended, my armor proving to be nearly as resilient as my sword, a true feat, considering my sword was indestructible(Technically), and we found ourselves(I, Milly, Ian, Alejandra, Hunter, and Tyler) at the door to the infirmary. We all took a deep breath, and Milly opened the door. Mako's injuries had been to extensive, the arm had muscles and nerves that died, making it useless, I had known this before them, along with Milly, who volunteered in the infirmary, and I'd managed to hook Mako up with some, interesting, equipment. We crowded into the room, almsot as large as the library, and similar in design, high arches soared above, and windows shedded light on the subject. Mako lay upright, the bed supporting him, sleeping. We hesitated, not wanting to wake him up, Tyler broke the silence, activating an instrument(Violin) and playing a soft tune, which steadily increased in volume, becoming more elaborate the longer he played, visual signs of restlessness appeared in everyone, and I noticed even myself feeling as if I needed to get up and run. Mako woke, startled, probably having had a dream that he was sprinting from something. He looked at us in turn, and raised his right hand in greeting, smiling. The smile fell off his face when his arm came into his view, chrome plated like my old armor, the mechanized arm was designed by my father, powered and directed by Mako's aura, connecting seamlessly at the shoulder, but not so much so at it's own joints, and a crimson color glowed from the slits up and down it. He turned his arm and flexed his fingers, his face solemn,

"What happened?" He asked, not forcefully, but resigned,

"Your arm wasn't in the greatest shape when it was impaled in the jungle, you're lucky to be alive." Milly said, and tears welled in Alejandra's eyes. Alejandra wept into Hunter's shoulder, and he rubbed her back, comforting her and leading her from the room.

"It shouldn't be too different from your old arm, but most people who get prosthetics and cybernetics seem to experience some... loss of sentimental value, for a while you'll get messed up because you don't actually feel where your arm is, until you get your hand-eye coordination down pat, but otherwise, you're just fine. And you glow in the dark." I explained, Tyler tuning an instrument nearby, Milly standing and swaying a little quietly beside me, Mako staring at me in sadness. It made for an awkward moment that Milly thankfully put an end to.

"So, Mako, classes are over, d'you wanna do anything now that you can do stuff?" Milly asked,

"I wanna train," He said, standing and shaking out his arms, cracking his neck and stretching his shoulder blades "Ready?" He asked. Ian grinned,

"Whenever you are,"

We found Alejandra with Hunter, having collected herself and thanked him, I followed behind team MIMA as they walled out of the school, my armor gleamed in the sunlight, yet the sword my father gave me weighed heavily on my back. Something didn't seem right, something off, simething I couldn't put my finger on, I didn't know what, so I shrugged it off, thinking it would resolve itself later. We stepped into the emerald forest, I following along in case the arm didn't work quite well. It wasn't long before we found a Deathstalker cave, I smashed some metal from the ground against it's wall, summoning the Deathstalker, it came, and furious, the problem was, that this Deathstalker was a titan, a good six times the size of a normal Deathstalker, it crashed through the cave opening, blowing the mouth of the cave to rubble. I activated my semblance, noting it's stance and tail position, this thing was ancient, knowing what and why to do things. It struck like lightning, attempting to snip Ian in half, stopped by a blade that appeared from nothing, circling him like a hula hoop with a bar in the middle, this monstrous blade had a six foot diameter, the pinching motion proceeded, and Ian held tightly onto his weapon, so when the tension from the pressure threw the blade, it yankednIan along with it, slamming him into a tree with the force to knock it down. Milly turned to go help, and was only saved from decapitation by the wings I'd bought her, the lowest feather detaching and spreading around her in a deflective shield, the pincer closed too early, attempting to grab the feathers, but the motion continued, the claw slamming her midsection and throwing her as well, she landed in a tree far off, and we heard her yell somehow

"I'M OK!"

Mako, Alejandra, and I watched the creature carefully, knowing it would take advantage of any faltering, it went for Alejandra first, but she turned sideways, and the claw dug into the floor where she'd been standing an attosecond earlier. She flipped over the second claw that attacked as the first retreated, distorting forward a few inches to burry a dagger in the creatures eye, flipping back once as the stinger slammed the ground in front of it's face, a claw sped toward her mid air, almost hitting her, but she was yanked back to where she'd been, landing safely. The Deathstalker watched studiously, and saw me looking at it, then surged forward, bringing a claw down on me, but I'd been ready, and already had my sword up as it attacked, fake yawning as it froze. Noticing the twelve infinity signs and Epsilons that ran down the blade filling at record speed, glowing green, I stepped out of the way as the energy capacity of the sword capped, and it was slammed out of my hand, gliding straight through a few trees before getting lodged in the ground some distance away. I groaned, grimacing as a second claw appeared in my face, seen for less than a second through the slits for eyes in my helmet. It slammed me back, and a dent pressed the armor against my chest. I bumped the dent out with my semblance, not wanting a nasty wound from pressure in the wrong place, and sat up agains the tree I hit, wincing, I'd definitely broken a rib. My helmet lay a few feet away, and I looked up, seeing the monster charge toward Mako, who stepped back, holding up Flint(His Katana) in a defensive position, the Deathstalker struck with both claws, a circle of five feet around Mako was flattened by the force, the shockwave rustling the leaves on the trees around the clearing. Mako flashed red, and fell to a knee, breathing heavy, having expended most of his aura blocking that hit. The next hit came quickly, crashing into his chest like a freight train, throwing him through a tree. He slid to the ground,resignation in his eyes. The Deathstalker sprinted forward again, bringing it's stinger down onto Mako, the force knocking down trees nearby, the Dwathstalker, puzzled for some reason, lifted the stinger, looking for it's prey, Mako gripping the stinger with an iron grip while it did so. It started screeching in pain as the mechanical arm glowed molten red, a crimson light shining from within, melting the stinger into a goopy mass of poison, which fell onto the Deathstalker's shell. The Deathstalker used the stump of the stinger to slam Mako off of it, Mako dragged his metal arm behind him in the ground, coming to a stop next to Flint, which he picked up and ignited with his semblance. The Deathstalker squared off across from him, and feinted to his left, then jumping forward, slamming both claws down on were Mako had been standing, lifting it's right claw quickly to swipe at Mako, who had dodged closer to it's face. He ducked as it attacked, and it hit itself as Mako brought Flint up into it's chin. The flaming blade pierced the top of it's head, and the Deathstalker collapsed. Mako lifted it slightly, getting Flint out from under it, and dropped it, watching as the giant scorpion's own corrosive poison ate through it's shell. I limped over,

"Wow, I came in case you faltered, but damn man, why don't we just let you put Torchwick in a headlock?" I said joking, and Mako chuckled slightly, grinning and looking around for his team, Milly appeared from the clearing, the holographic wings still reassembling, feathers flitting from the trees here and there to reattach to the main body. Ian's sword was vibrating at high speed, and let out an electric shock when I tried to pick it up. I kicked Ian in the leg, and he came to, groggy, bruised, but not dead, so that was nice. We all stood, rubbing our various Bruises, broken bones, and near molten arms, and headed to the school, Milly flying us up the cliff once the feathers were all present. We walked into the school,seeing Hunter, who looked puzzled,

"Hey, uhhh, where's Alejandra?" He questioned, looking around us. We all facepalmed, she was the only one who hadn't gotten hurt, and with Mako under attack I hadn't been paying attention. She had simply disappeared, probably not a scratch on her.

Name: Aiden Last Name: Erie

"Uhh, hi?" I half asked, half stated, a girl in purple velvet pants had whirled into my treehouse like structure, catching me while I was having lunch, and had me pinned to a wall with a knife at my throat.

"Who, are you?" She questioned, her eyes piercing my soul,

"They call me Aiden," I said, and mentally facepalmed,

"What are you doing here?" She interrogated me.

"I'm here to spy." I blurted, unable to lie to her, those ice blue eyes holding my concentration completely, the knife up against my throat didn't help either.

"Who are you spyi-" she started, interrupted by a tone ringing on my communicator. She looked at my pocket, breaking the strange hypnotism,

"Duty calls," I said, unclipping and activating a grenade, then dropping it to the ground she saw it blinking blue and jumped off me, slipping down the hatchway as I dove through the window, activating my semblance as I did so, falling into the shallow shadows of the trees. Turning to see her search the wreckage for me. She gave up on finding me and left, I crept from the shadows and retrieved the atmo dust grenade, glad she hadn't picked it up. Designed by my father, they pulled dust directly from the air, recharging automatically, if the Schnee company got their hands on anything of the sort, my grenades, Silvia and Aegis, or my dad's gauntlet and dagger, they would be unstoppable, and I shuddered at the thought of any company holding such power. I checked the communicator, seeing a new name on the list, Pyrrha Nikos, an optional target, requiring a fear mongering part, I'd have to challenge her to a duel, and make her think her semblance was no longer working. I declined, I knew the name, and still had scars. Another had ariived, a private one, from someone with the last name Jacobs, wanting me to perform surveilance on someone known as Epsilon, and I grinned, the person I would be observing anyway. Accepting, I looked toward the school, deciding to find this Hunter Jacobs, before hand. I watched as the girl walked up the path to the sheer cliff face, and groaned, realizing I'd just destroyed my only hide out. I shrugged, figuring hiding in plain sight would be better, considering I'd have to follow Epsilon, and considering I needed a place to stay. I climbed the same path as the girl, resolving to come up with an alibi for finding me out here. I stepped into the main hall as someone asked,

"Hey, uhhh, Where's Alejandra?"

She walled up to the group of bruised people and said cheerily,

"Here I am."

I stepped closer as they asked where she'd been,

"Oh, just, out..." she said,

"Finding me in the forest!" I finished for her, stepping into view. They all jumped back, except Epsilon, whose eyes seemed to have lost their luster, their emerald color replaced by the dull green of skepticism,

"Oh, aren't you that one gu-?" He started,

"Do your eyes change color?" I interrupted, changing the subject,

"They migh-" He managed before a faunas with rust colored fox ears and a similarly colored tail jumped forward,

"Oooooh! I wanna see!" She said, inspecting his irises. I turned to the others,

"Hey, I'm Aiden, and Uhh, I need to talk to you," I said, grabbing the arm of the girl who pinned me and pulling her aside,

"Why?" She sqwuacked, her heels dragging behind her,

"I want to thank you," I whispered through gritted teeth, we got a good distance away, but still in view, and she glared at me, "Okay, here's the deal, I've been contracted to watch two people, one Epsilon, the other, someone named Hunter, I need you not to blow my cover, got that?"

"An interesting work you've got, and it does explain why you said you were spying. Just one more thing, the grenade?" She said, her eyes searching my face for any chinks in my armor. The problem was, she underestimated herself and me, herself, in the way that she'd caught me surprised, without my poker face up, now, she would only be able to read what pages I held out for her. She nodded,

"The knife?" I asked back, "I was just reacting to dangerous stimuli like any human would."

"Fine, but try and hurt anyone..." she left the threat hanging in the air, then turned slightly, now wearing a winning smile and giving me a hug. We walked back voer and we got introduced,

"Aiden is here for," she stuttered precariously,

"The Vale tournament." I finished for her, grinning,

"Then let's see whatcha got," Epsilon growled, drawing his sword as his armor reformed back into perfect shape. I drew Silvia,

"Any time,"

"Except now," Some one said, walking around the corner, a tablet in hand, white blouse, black cape thing with purple inside and curled vectors for the trim, green eyes looking at at us from me behind glasses. "Aiden, is it?" She asked, and I nodded, "Here for the tournament? Fine then, allow me to inspect your weapons, and let me also proctor your sparring attempt. Tomorrow," She emphasized, and I handed her Silvia and Aegis, neglecting to hand over the Atmo(atmospheric) dust grenades, but she noticed them, and held out a hand, in which I reluctantly placed one as she gave back Silvia and Aegis, which I slipped into my pockets. She squinted slightly at the atmonade(atmo grenade this is how I'll refer to them from now on) and handed it back, nodding, and I slipped it into it's holster next to the other two.

"Your room is this way. Mister?"

"Erie." I said quickly,

"Eerie," she said, "come along." And with that she led the way, and I turned and waved good bye to the group, noting a single stony face(Epsilon's) and a few puzzled ones, and one approaching from the front entrance, a large hammer over his shoulder, black and gold ceramic armor gleaming in the soft light of the main hall. Curiousity strong enough to kill a cat painted on his face. He went out of view as we turned a corner, and Goodwitch introduced herself and gave me a key to my room, leaving after that, I stepped inside, and almost had a heart attack, Cinder was sitting on the bed, her gold eyes drilling holes in my skull.

"I thought," She said, standing, "That I told you to stay out of sight. Completely." She finished poisonously, and I shrugged nonchalantly,

"It's hard to do that, especially on an empty stomach, which I wouldn't have if you decided to pay me." I shot back,

"Ohhh, but my dear Aiden, you are in this for the long run, for so much more than a few paltry amounts of money."

"Well yea, but in the meantime, I need some cha-ching, My good lucks and awesoome attitude don't come cheap," I said, getting the hang of talking to her.

"Fine, how much do you need?" She conceded, finally dropping the 'Dangerously sweet' act for a more direct approach.

"Nothing, I revealed myself because I found a job, you can keep your 'paltry amounts' to youself," I pressed, and she glared at me. "Calm yourself. It's just a little work on the side, your job comes first, then my little, detour, what's up?"

She glared at me a few seconds longer, obviously not pleased with how casual I was treating her,

"You have a new target, an extra, one that wasn't on the list, he has gone by many names, but his latest is Nio Saphirrus, he is meddling, and becareful, he is more than he appears.

"Got it, what's his personality like?" I implied, and Cinder sent me a picture, standing and leaving afterward, leaving the door open tantalizingly. I walked over and pushed the door closed, laying back, trying to work over the thoughts swirling in my head.

(So yea, new chapter out, blargh, PM me for info, or thoughts, or with ideas, or just generally about anything, I'm a really bored person, Review, please I can tell somethings meh, but, I am yet blinded by the meaning I see in every syllable, the alterations caused upon my own universe magnifying with every keystroke. Shout out to Dust-redeemer, who continues to let me use his OC, and UnicornBanshee02(I think that's how you spell it.) For Nio, who will be getting his own little storyline, no room for OCs, sorry, that time long past(Approximately 80 k words ago, going into the earlier story))


	5. Chapter 5

(Sorry guys this has taken a bit of time to post, because they decided to do the Dance in halves or fourths, I don't get to write into it until afterward, I don't want to write more time in the dance than how much time is in the dance, see? So, until then, sorry, but I have to back off a little until they clear that, in the meantime, this chapter will be about what Aries was doing while Epsilon and them were out fighting the Alpha Deathstalker.)

Name: J-3000 Known As: Aries

Morning of the deathstalker fight.

I woke, kind of, powering on instead of actually waking up gets confusing, either way, I stood quietly and looked around, noticing everyone asleep. I grabbed my armor and started to drag it out of the room, along with Volund. I almost made it to the door when I felt Teresa's eyes on my back.

"Where are you going?" She whispered,

"I'm gonna go see my sister," I whispered back, and she nodded,

"Be careful."

I stepped out of the room and got my armor on, it shined black and gold,(Banshee, this is the reason I didn't get Nio the black and blue armor, it would be too stock when compared with other characters.). I hefted Volund on my shoulder and left the school, skipping classes. I got down to Vale and headed for the transmit tower, where she said she'd wait for me last time, hopefully it would be the same this time. I got there, and saw her, standing stock still, perfect posrure as usual, I used to make fun of her for it, but now thought it good, a sign that she was straight in a bent and broken world. I walked over, and waved hello,

"Hey sis, how's it goin-" I started before she threw her arms around me, grasping me in a hug strong enough to start putting dents in my armor,

"They are soooo mad at you," she said, on the verge of tears,

"Where are they?" I asked, and she pointed to a car, which I led her to.

"Hey driver, you here to take me somewhere?" I asked, and he nearly had a heart attack, sure it wouldn't be that easy to apprehend me. He nodded, unlocking the doors, and I got in, my sister sitting next to me. He drove quickly, not believing his luck, and we arrived a few hours later at the building where I was created,

"I don't remember this place," Penny said strangely, and I nodded,

"This is where I was built, them doing you first, they had to find a new super secret hideout for the next one." I said, stepping out of the car, leading Penny into the building. They were waiting, six of them, in a dark room around an elliptical table, a single light illuminating the center of said table. Their hands folded neatly together, uniform, each somehow having the light only illuminate their mouths as they gestured toward two empty chairs, side by side, we sat, and the meeting began simply,

"Why, J-3000, did you remove your tracker?" One of them asked, so far down the table he was almost perpendicular to me.

"I found it, invasive, so I removed it, and attached it to a power source. It's always in my pocket, you guys can use it for what it was intended for, knowing where I am." I replied innocently, and another, to my right, asked,

"But now we can't be sure, data will be lost, precious information missed-"

"But that doesn't make any sense, I was told it was a tracker, a GPS satellite ping tool to let you know where I am, how could it possibly collect more data, unless, I was lied to, unless it does more than to you where I am, unless, it can see through my eyes, and, apparently, control those same eyes with the flick of a switch." I interrupted him, deadly quiet. They deliberated for a moment, nodding their heads this way and that, before the one across from me spoke,

"We will admit, we did not give you the full truth, but we never lied."

"Omission of the truth is a lie." I growled, glaring a the man as he grinned,

"That is, debatable, the truth itself, is nothing but an opinion, a point of view. So while you may see it as disgusting and wrong, we see it-"

"As a way to amass more power? As a way to perfect an unruly weapon? There is no, _Lux E Tenebris_ from your point of view, there is power, and there is collecting more of it." I growled, staring all of them down simultaneously. They shrugged, and I pulled the tracker from my pocket.

"Do you think I'll let you continue controlling my body?" I asked, and one laughed,

"Your body? _we _created it, it belongs to us. Your, creator, got to keep Penny, but you, you are our property." The laughing one said, and I looked at him, my eyes shining gold like spotlights as I looked him in the eyes.

"I, _belong_ to no one. I am a living being, and if you think I'm some sort of slave. I'm afraid you are very wrong." I said as he cowered, covering his face. "You idiots can follow me, watch me for all I care, but try and assume control of my body ever again, and I will hunt you all down. And end each and every one of you in a very twisted, very painful way. You got that?" I threatened, and didn't wait for an answer, standing and walking out the door, pulling Penny with me. We walked back towards the transmit tower.

"So, what've you been up to?" I asked Penny, acting normal, and she looked at me for a second like she didn't know me. She shrugged,

"I found some old friends." She said, and told me about her telling them about her being an android.

"You stopped a truck with your bare hands?" I asked, and she nodded, while I grinned,

"That's adorable, I can stop a carrier(That's the word I use for the flying things Torchwick uses to get away) with mine." I laughed, and she pushed me playfully.

"So what have you been up to?" She asked back, and I didn't say anything. Telling her about my past activities might trigger them taking control of her, after all, I could rip the tracker out. She had tons of them, one in each of her swords. I could escape, she couldn't, so I laughed,

"Not really that much sis, this is actually the most action packed thing I've done all week, I did qualify for the tournament though, so I'll be seeing you there." I said, and we were back at the transmit tower, waving goodbye as a black car came to pick her up. I turned, heading back towards beacon. Hoping she wouldn't get thrown into this business with Chimera.

Name: N/A Known As: Nio Saphirrus

Same day as above, about midday.

I turned a corner, heading towards the post office, Gatekeeper had sent me a message saying she had sent some care packages, I looked around inside, poking just my head in before being ambushed by the attendant,

"Hello! Welcome to the Beacon post office! We have your package right here, please leave now!" She said, thrusting a box into my hands and pushing me out the door by my head. I rubbed my head, wondering what just happened, when I heard the clunk of boots from down the hall. I turned, seeing a guy there, heavy armor, heavy hammer, black leather pants and chains covering them. Black sleeveless shirt covered in some places by black kevlar armor at least six inches thick, he was turned to the right, having just come around a corner, and I noticed a branding, not a tattoo, on the back of his neck, it marked him to be N.12. He turned toward me, his skin completely chrome.

"Well hello there brother. It seems I've found you, and it seems you've been digging, keep doing so, and you won't like what you find." He said, and I stared him down,

"I have to find and destroy the monster that tried to turn me into a weapon, and I have to end him." I said quietly,

"So be it," he responded, hefting the black hammer from his back, I truly realized how huge it was, both faces were four feet wide and tall, and they added up to an hourglass shape in between them, he charged forward while I activated my armor, summoning Sapphire Cutter as well, the blue energy blade glowed from the hilt in my hand faithfully, it was the one thing they would never be able to turn against me. I looked up, seeing he was still about ten feet away, running very slowly as a result of all the weight on him, I readied into my defensive stance, intending to crouch and throw him over my head with his moment when he got close. Instead, he threw the hammer underhand, it slammed into me as I realized that, and I fell back, it landing on top of me. I picked it up and dropped it beside me, grinning now that he didn't have a weapon, he just yanked on a chain to bring it back however, and swung it at me. I ducked, it going over my head to slam into the wall, I didn't hear an impact, and looked up, he had some how managed to stop the hammer from hitting the wall, and was about to bring it down on my head. I rolled to the right, then stood, turning to slash at him with Sapphire Cutter as he stopped the hammer once again. I realized that he was attempting to prevent collateral damage, and wondered why. As I thought, he picked up the hammer and brought it around, mashing me into a wall across the hall. I shook my head, and stood, converting Sapphire Cutter to gun mode, switching it to full auto, and running around him after rolling to an upright position, sliding to the right to get a shot at him, I got a couple off, but groaned when they pinged off uselessly. He turned and started running towards me, the hammer in front of him to block any shots. I ran toward him, jumping over him completely, lamding silently as he ran blindly. I went after him, getting close behind him to activate Sapphire Cutter and hold the glowing blue blade to his throat.

"You can surrender and go into custody, or you can die, what do you choose?" I asked, and he moved slightly, I wondered about it for a moment before the hammer swung around on it's chain and slammed into my side, my armor, still some what recovering from the fall from the transmit tower, broke under the impact, only the skin suit underneath remained. He towered above me, bringing the hammer over his head as I rolled to the right, he manged to bring the hammer to a stop as I stood and started reaching for Sapphire Cutter. I got to it, rolling forward, yanking it out of the way as one of his strikes finally made contact with the floor. Intended for destroying Sapphire Cutter, it left a crater in the ground, he didn't stop there, and brought it around, lightning fast, landing another hit that threw me across the room, destroying my helmet and leaving me against the wall. I coughed up some blood as he approached,

"You are strong, number ten, but your compassion hurts you, and now, it will kill you." He said, lifting the hammer above his head a final time.

Name: Aiden Last Name: Erie

"Aiden Erie? Will you be in the tournament?" Goodwitch asked from inside the arena, I looked at Cinder, and she shrugged,

"Alright, sure,"

"I will ask you to take some seriousness in the matter, Mr. Erie, it is not a "alright, sure" kind of question," she said, marking me on the list and beckoning me with a finger. I followed the steps down and came to a stop beside her,

"Your opponent will be, Tyler Symphonia." She said, marking him on the list as well. We awaited his approach, and head some instruments being tuned as he stepped into the arena. Cracking his neck and knuckles as the instruments disappeared.

"Begin," she said, and stepped to the edge of the arena. I turned toward Tyler, ready to feel bad about thrashing him. He seemed so innocent, pulling a violin scroll, a blue glowing violin was projected from the scroll, his new knapsack hanging from his left side. He produced a bow and tightened the hairs of it for playing, he set the bow on the string, and played a single note that exploded around him with force, wind rushed past me at it's strength, and the shock wave pushed me back a few steps at twenty feet apart. I looked at him in bewilderment as he took the violin off his shoulder and rushed toward me. I drew Silvia and Aegis as he got close and struck at me with the back of the bow, which I realized was sharpened. He hit me over the head with the violin, giving it a dent, but a pulse of blue light came from the scroll and washed over the instrument, the dent now gone as he ducked under a jab from Silvia and played the same note, blasting me back. He put away the violin, powering it down, and fiddled with a knob on the bow's base. The bow got thicker, and he pulled a rather large scroll from his knapsack as I stood, generating a Double Bass as I sprinted toward him. Sliding behind him and stabbing at his back leg, it dug into his calf and he winced, starting a song on the Double Bass as he went, the six foot tall instrument let out a deep, rumbling song, and a pillar rose diagonally from the floor from nothing, striking me in the chest and throwing me back. A new dent in my armor's chest plate, I stood, shaking my head as he shifted down twice to produce a lighter sound, turning towards me to release a hurricane of wind. I stabbed Silvia into the ground, the dagger stuck to the hilt in the floor, and I held on. The blast of wind ended after a few seconds, and I got to my feet, pointing Aegis at him as he approached and emptying it's clip. He sprinted forward, drawing two handles from his knapsack, connecting them together and generating a double headed axe on each hilt. He whirled them around him, deflecting the bullets and sliding towards me. I reloaded Aegis and converted Silvia to Uzi form, connecting the machine gun pistols on their clips and pulling them apart, to activate the chain between them. I sprinted forward, switching Aegis to it's alternate form, heavier and denser than Silvia, it changed into a weighted ball, simple, but when attached to a chain, devastating. We met, I shooting at his foot with Silvia while swinging Aegis overhand, he knocked my hand away with one of the axes but fell to his knee as Aegis hit him, I switched Aegis back and said,

"Shoulda kept it ranged mate."

Before spraying them into him as he activated his aura to protect him. It dropped quickly as he struggled to stand, a broken collarbone and a rain of bullets often prevented most people from standing. His aura dropped into red and I stopped firing. Slipping the Uzi's into my pockets. I debated offering a hand, helping him stand would be a bad idea, causing extreme pain, so I kneeled next to him,

"You alright?" I asked,

"Been better," He managed through gritted teeth. Something other than guilt, something outside, something not me, made me put my hand on his shoulder and channel my aura to heal his wounds. He grunted a thanks, and stood, offering a hand. I took it, and we shook hands. We looked at Goodwitch, and she stared at us, silent, as I heard a quiet beeping behind me, the beeping sound my atmonades made. I turned, slinging Tyler around me to throw him away from the source of the beeping, forcing me towards it.

(Back to Nio, now, just a note, if I as a writer, not the character thinking it, type something, it's true, completely and utterly, in the universe like such, my word is law, correct? So when I say "he raised his hammer for the last time" I am being very literal. Just a note)

Name:N/A Known As: Nio Saphirrus

Chrome purple armor flashed in front of me, blocking the hammer as it came down. She threw him back, and stood in front of me in a defensive stance, two daggers of darkness in her hands they were solid, but as they moved, stars, constellations, flashed within them, they moved, but the stars didn't, 12 roared and ran forward, attempting to bring the hammer down on her, she blocked, kind of, slashing through the shaft with her twin daggers. It collapsed in on it itself, ripped from 12's hands. He got even angrier, trying to assault her with his fists. She stepped back, grabbing a hilt from over her shoulder as she wove around his fists. She ducked under a right hook, drawing her greatsword and holding it to his neck.

"I don't want to kill you." She said,

"That's how we're different," he growled, winding up for a kick. She turned, dodging around him and flipping her sword around it's guard, it unlatched and reformed, she flipped back, and brought the scope of the anti tank sniper rifle to her eye, taking a knee and bracing the immense gun on her shoulder. A shot rang out, deafening, solemn, final. 12 fell to the ground, a hole punched through the metal skin of his head. Julia transformed and sheathed the great sword, giving me the reason why I'd never seen it before, her long black hair covered it completely, except for the hilt. I looked at her as she walked away, not looking at me. Though I saw a tear in her eye as she turned to leave.

Name: Tyler Last Name: Symphonia

I fell to the ground, stumbling after practically being thrown, I looked towards Aiden as something exploded, something he was practically standing on top of. He was blasted almost straight up, thirty feet, and started falling, towards the stands, unconscious from the explosion. People started emptying the space of where he would land rather than catch him, and I looked at Epsilon, who rolled his eyes and nodded, his eyes glowed green and a faint darkness surrounded him, Aiden's descent slowed drastically, lifted little by little with the plates of metal on his knees and shoulders underneath his pants and cloak thing. He was placed softly to my left, not in the stands, and I ran over and crouched next to him. He was out like a light, but he was utterly fine. No burns, no missing arms or legs, even his cloak was perfectly fine, no chars or other marks on it. Even the ground didn't mark it.

"Clear," Goodwitch said, and I stepped back, seeing her complete a glyph, releasing a small shock into Aiden, who jumped up,

"HEY! Hey, no defibrillator needed, I'm not dead." He said, stepping away from Goodwitch, who grinned,

"I knew that..." she said, walking over to the source of the explosion, a small grenade like thing, it had no pin, and seemed to compose of two layers, the first, the outer, with holes at regular intervals about an inch wide, the layer underneath was slightly spinning, and a red glow had started to appear around it.

"Hey, one of my atmonades." Aiden said, holding out a hand for it. Goodwitch looked at him, squinting a little, not sure whether to give back the grenade or treat it as evidence. She ended up handing it back, along with retrieving a shovel for Aiden.

"You need to keep an eye on your items, Aiden, your punishment for letting that go off is that you have to fill this hole."

"What hole?" He asked, and Goodwitch gestured in a circle as the bell rang. Indicating a crater around us. He groaned, and Goodwitch walked off, along with everyone else. I stayed, and he looked at me.

"Hey, sorry about that." He said sheepishly, getting to digging into a mound for some dirt to fill the crater. I grinned,

"Yea, that was pretty crazy. I could swear we have like maintenance ninjas or something who fix these types of things." I said, and he shrugged, working to fill the crater quickly. I pulled out my viola,

"Hey, stand back," I called, and he raised an eyebrow, but did as I said. I played a quick tune. Pushing the sound around the room as I did so, making the arena level, and then pulled out the double bass, playing a single not on D, holding it, and causing the air to circulate in a single direction. Effectively sweeping the arena of my interference. He raised the eyebrow even higher, and I shrugged,

"Disregard the constabulary." I said archaically, and he chuckled. I walked over,

"I don't believe we've met," I said, offering a hand, "I'm Tyler, last member of team HENT."

He looked and my hand for a second, and shook it.

"I'm Aiden, Aiden Erie."

"Eerie,"

"Like I haven't heard that joke before." He said, a smile on his face. We headed to training, I with my team, he, wherever it was he went to train.

(Blurgh, late chapter, sorry guys, I'm fiddling with the story for a bit, so it'll be weird, also, I'm writing three stories simultaneously, check out my counter part, Ultimatumcore, on fictionpress, my only story there will be getting stronger. So there's that. Also, check out mah pokémon fanfic if you're into that. Thats it.)


	6. Chapter 6: The Duel and The Training

(Okey doke, where am I again? Uuhhh, just a sec, Oh yes, here we are.)

Name: James Known As: Epsilon

I stepped out of the arena, heading for the training rooms. My scroll buzzed, and I stopped to take a look at it,

"Training room D, get there soon." The message read, signing Hunter's name at the bottom. Turning, I grabbed my armor, heading for the training room, dropping the plates in place as I walked, rolling my shoulders to calibrate the positioning of the pauldrons, I stepped into the room stretching, and saw Hunter already there, I looked around for Nio, remembering he had been walking beside Hunter, but shrugged, wincing when I heard Tyler's viola, the song sounded strangely, constraining, the notes getting tighter and faster as he played until they leveled out, moving towards us. Tyler walked in momentarily, Nio behind him being dragged, constrained by glowing yellow bonds.

"Hello!" Tyler said cheerily, waving a hello as he stopped playing. I looked quizzically at Nio, and he chuckled,"Yea, I found this rascal trying to sneak out through the main hall. It was tricky, but I apprehended him and brought him here."

I nodded, and Hunter asked,

"So, you gonna let him free or what?"

"Well, I might, but I don't know yet, he might be mad." Tyler said with a chuckle,

"You have to anyway, might as well do it now." I added in, and Tyler shrugged,

"Sure, sure."

He played a quick tune on the instrument and the bonds disappeared.

Name: Milly

Mako stood at the cliff, watching the sunset, I watching him, Alejandra and Ian at my side. He begun to brood recently, the death stalker fight seeming to really bring things into perspective for him. A trench coat flapped around him in the slight wind as he gazed straight at the sun. My wings activated and I flew forward, landing at his side, my imperial looking armor gleaming in the hues of orange turning purple.

"They say it's bad to look straight at the sun." I said quietly, and he didn't respond, so I waited, and after a few minutes he spoke,

"I can't let it happen to you guys. I can't let you all die. I'm the leader of team, Ive gotta watch out for you al-" he started, and I rolled my eyes, pushing him over the edge of the cliff, letting him fall for a couple seconds before jumping over the edge to catch him. I brought him back to the top of the cliff, placing him on the ground,

"You don't have to do it all on your own. You're not some titan who has to hold up the sky, we are your team, we are a team, not a leader and three followers." I said quietly, and he nodded, not looking me in the eye, looking instead at the three of us and clapping his hands together,

"Then let's get to work." He said, heading for a training room, and we followed. When we got in there, he'd already summoned a couple grimm an Ursa in one of the cages roared as he released it,

"Alright, you can not attack it except for cooperating with one of your team mates, Semblances count," he added, and we raced forward, I was next to Ian, and presumed he would help, unfortunately, he seemed to assume the reverse, and reached out a hand. Which I took, uncertain, throwing me off as he tried to launch himself forward, not going far enough, making us both slam into the Ursa headfirst, it attacked, and my wings blocked, forcing me back slightly as I held onto Ian, pulling him also out of the way. We stood as it roared, charging toward us again. Ian looked at me with a raised eyebrow, and I then nodded, together, we sprinted toward it, Ian offering his hand again which I took, turning to hurl him spinning at the Ursa. His blade growing into it's great sword form as he did so, cleaving the Ursa completely in half at the midsection as it stood to attack. Mako nodded, releasing the second Ursa, which Alejandra and I took out, her launching her knives toward me so I could redirect them with my shield, sending them into the Ursa's throat. Ian and Alejandra killed the third one, teleporting back and forth to chop it to pieces, Ian ending it by teleporting it above Alejandra, who did something like a roundhouse kick straight up to knock it into a wall, where it started dissolving. Mako nodded again, and released five Ursai at once, joining us in the fight as we sprinted toward them.

Name: Tyler Last Name: Symphonia

Nio released, he stood and started walking towards the door, which Epsilon closed magnetically, he looked back at Epsilon, a tired look in his eyes,

"Open the door." He said quietly, and Epsilon shook his head,

"Sorry kiddie, we've been getting way too lucky, but there's gonna be something I can't stop, something that hits us when our lucks low, you've all gotta be ready for that when it happens." He chuckled, and Hunter poked his gold armor.

"And you? We won't always be there to help," He said, smirking,

"Name one time tha-" Epsilon started, but Nio finished it,

"Enough, I've got things to do, there's work to be done." He growled and Epsilon raised an eyebrow,

"Oh? Something more important than your life is there?" Epsilon questioned, getting irritated,

"Yes." Nio responded simply, and Epsilon shrugged,

"It'll have to wait, 'cuz the four of our lives put together are more important than any little tea party you want to go on." Epsilon rebuttled, and Nio turned, his armor flashing into existence as he summoned his sword.

"Ooh you gonna fight me?" Epsilon taunted, drawing his sword and smiling as he put on his helmet, the heavy silver and gold armor intimidating as he took a defensive stance. Hunter stepped forward, holding up his hands to hold them apart,

"Stop, this is stupid." He said, and Epsilon simply stepped around him,

"No, he thinks he's good to run around on his own, let's see how well he'll do, if he can beat me, he can go, if he can't, he'll stay here, train with us, and then we can go off and help with whatever it was he was going to go do." Epsilon said, and Hunter sighed, exasperated, stepping away and holding his hands up in defeat. He stood next to me as Epsilon and Nio squared off, Nio sprinting forward, rolling and coming to a crouch to stab at Epsilon, who had side stepped, holding his own blade to Nio's neck,

"Look at you." Epsilon growled, "You aren't in shape to fight anyone."

Nio slashed at him, getting more and more enraged, Epsilon started falling back, letting Nio's strikes glance off his armor or dodging them completely, Nio swiped a foot, knocking Epsilon to the ground, holding the tip of his sword at Epsilon's throat, he said, still quiet as a whisper,

"See? I'll be fine. I beat him."

"Oh?" Epsilon asked with a chuckle, Nano tapping on Nio's shoulder for a second before throwing Nio off Epsilon. Epsilon threw Nano his sword, standing and cracking his neck as Nio and Nano met, Nio's energy sword apparently in-effected by Epsilon's sword's energy eating abilities. Wind cleared around them, dust settling as they both pushed each other back. Nano flipped the sword around in his hand, touching the tip of the sword to the ground the harden the sand around him, sprinting forward with the traction he gained as Nio blocked the strike, getting thrown back as Epsilon reinforced Nano's attack with his semblance. Nio got to his feet, roaring forward and attacking, the infinity signs up and down the sides of the blade filling one by one with each attack, Nio crouched, smashing Nano with the hilt of Saphire Cutter, launching him into a wall. He had won, but was very close to fainting where he stood, brought closer by Epsilon slamming him to the ground by his armor. I winced, and Hunter stood,

"That's enough Epsilon." He called, stepping forward,

"No, it's not, this isn't enough, he'll be mad, he'll leave without us regardless, he doesn't understand yet." Epsilon replied, lifting Nio and looking him in the eye.

"I lost, the entirety of my team last year, my own brother, and if you think I'm gonna let another of my team mates die because they weren't ready. Because we weren't ready, you are so wrong." He growled, letting Nio drop, walking away, "Hunter, an important part of our team is injured, I think it would be best to do this training tomorrow, once he's recovered." Epsilon said, taking his sword from Nano as the auric projection waved and disappeared.

Name: Milly

Roughly an hour later.

"Come on! One more set!" Mako called, and we nodded, dragging ourselves to our feet as he released the set of eight Ursai. They launched forward, and Mako nodded,

"Flaming Angel!" He called, and we launched forward, the feathers from my wings spreading behind me, detaching and floating around me as Mako stood to my side. He jumped, spinning through the air as Flint ignited, sending sparks forward, sparks that landed on my feathers, on my sword, sparks that he channeled his aura into, setting them ablaze as Alejandra slowed the Ursai down, sending knives into their elbow and knee joints. Ian stayed behind, his sword morphing into a single, long blade, which he stabbed into the ground, anchoring himself as he focused his semblance. I continued racing forward as he activated his semblance, flaring his, strangely, gray aura, I found myself in front of an Ursa, slashing down to cleave it in half, letting the strike carry on as I appeared next to another of them, this time tilted sideways, as soon as the blade got through the Ursa, I was beside another, slashing diagonally up as I was transported to land directly to the left of an Ursa, the slashing motion beheading the creature of grimm, appearing in front of Ian as they swarmed toward him, his outline shifting as he focused, the feathers floating around me rotated, each stabbing into one of the three remaining grimm, setting them aflame from within as I slashed a final time, killing two and bashing the third to the ground with my tower shield,where it caught fire and burned to death. Exhuasted, we collapsed, Mako stepping up to us excitedly,

"That went great! Your skirt didn't even catch fire that time! Let's go one more, just to make sure we're not lucky!" He said, and Ian looked up, raising an eyebrow and lifting a hand to shift him ten feet straight up, letting him collapse to the ground as he laid back and fell asleep. Mako stood, rubbing his head and looking at Ian,

"Could you uhhh...?" He asked me, pointing at Ian and heading for the room. I nodded, and stood, struggling to lift my sword and then Ian. Alejandra giggled from behind me, and I blushed, dropping Ian and standing straight, flattening the front and back of my skirt. She chuckled, and lifted Ian gracefully, carrying him over her shoulder as she seemed to tiptoe to the room, I, clinking and clanking behind her.

((New chapter! After forever! I am yet raised from the dead, back to life! Yes indeed. It's been a while, sorry about that, but school was being annoying, and warframe is quite alot more interesting than writing stories for people who won't review...(you all know who you are) But, water under the bridge, you guys get six free chapters before I at least hope for some feed back, but any thoughts would for sure expedite them!(the chapters, I mean.) As usual, Review! Thanks for reading! And I would love an OC or two to introduce in preparation of the upcoming tourney! Limited time before I crap out the characters on my own, so PM me for info or with an OC.))


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